"The Hidden Scrolls"

The wall of ice was there again. Lucy stood before its crystallic, smooth surface and tried to look inside. The glass-like structure finally cleared up and the familiar figure appeared to be standing right before it, on the other side.

"What are you looking for, little queen?" She asked.

"I want to know more about you. And about Narnia."

"The castle." Jadis said.

"I have looked in the castle. There is..."

"Not this castle, dear. You need to look in my castle." The white dressed figure smiled to her and disappeared. Lucy woke up.

Of course! Jadis' castle. It was only a ruin now, the ice towers melted, but the halls and dungeons were sealed and abandoned. She knew how they emptied it, taking out everything they could find and the countless treasures were brought to Cair Paravel. But did they find everything? She mused. The very same day she took the horse and rushed through the woods. It was getting late when she crossed the Great River. But now everything was warm and the darkening sky soon revealed the full moon. She was so excited that during the day she barely stopped for eating and if she did, it was more for the horse, to give it some rest.

"Forgive me, my dear friend, " she caressed the animal's head as it hid it in juicy grass that was now growing all around the castle. Lucy almost forced herself to not enter the gate at night, knowing that looking in the dark wouldn't bring her much. She stared at the moon instead and tried to calm down her internal storm of emotions. Finally she fell asleep, but it was a light sleep, the kind after which you don't remember much and wake up as tired as if you didn't sleep at all. Finally the sun rose and with the first beams of light she was ready.

As soon as she went down the stairs she was very grateful to herself for not coming there at night. She almost fell down twice and once a piece of damaged wall crashed behind her as she moved a wrong stone. Every room that could have had something valuable in the past was now empty. Even the coffers or chairs were taken. And Jadis' throne. But she kept on looking. Finally, she entered basically every chamber of the castle, including the ones higher, which didn't have the roof anymore. Not finding anything she unwillingly headed down, to the dungeons. She shivered, imagining her brother being kept there and seeing the old chains attached to the floor or the wall didn't make her feel better.

"Jadis, why?" She whispered. A ruffling in the air made her jump and turn around nervously. She felt something. A presence? Or someone following her? Or could it be...?

"Jadis, help me," she whispered more clearly. The ruffling in the air turned out to be the dust from the ground that was now moving, gathering like in the wind and whirling in one direction. Lucy followed it, feeling like her heart was about to jump out of her chest. She got to another chamber and the whirles calmed down. She checked the bricks before her and felt some of them were loose. Carefully, she removed one and to her surprise, she saw an opening and the sack with manuscripts inside. Slowly, she took it and wrapped in her own cape. She went back up with a relief, being in the dungeons wasn't a pleasant experience after all.

But the day was still bright and she wasn't patient enough to wait with the reading until she gets home. There was much warmer upstairs, especially with the sun coming through the holes and, which was a bit ironic, the sun beam lited exactly the spot where Jadis' throne used to be. Lucy stopped right there. She sat on the floor and opened the first scroll.

The next couple of seconds took her breath away. She wasn't in the castle anymore. The air around her whizzled and for a moment she felt like she got cought in a tornado. She screamed of shock, but then she felt something soft under her feet. She was standing on the grass. Definitely, that was a grass. But another grass. Brighter, fresher, somehow more... young. And then she realised she felt like not herself. She felt angry. So angry and scared as she never was before. The rage was making her shake, yet she stood there uncertainly as that world was without any doubts, a new place to her. Curiosity was the next, overwhelming feeling. There was something going on nearby. The grass looked like boiling, the green bumps appeared everywhere, poping up and from each of them an animal jumped out. This view was fascinating and made her even forget the rage. Finally, there was a crowd of various creatures, gathering around one. This one was bigger and there was something about him that made her anger come back. A great, golden lion stood in the center and spoke loud enough to hear every word.

"Narnia. Narnia. Narnia. Awake."

And then she heard the crowd of all the talking beings over there responding.

"Hail, Aslan. We hear and obey."

"No." The voice in her head screamed painfully. "No. No. Never again." The anger became so great that it hurt her. She was fainting from pain when the next whirl of air overtook her and after another moment of dizziness, Lucy fell on the floor. She curled up, couldn't control the sobbing coming through her body and was lying there alone, crying, for an hour or more, until somebody found her.

"Quick, take her by the legs. By the legs. Oh, be careful! You will rip her arms off! Now, gently. This way."

She was barely awake, yet she felt, something was slowly dragging her along the floor. Once in a while she felt a soft fur touching her face or neck and sometime later it got definitely colder. Lucy wanted to open her eyes, but they appeared to be very heavy. Her tormented mind registered how the cold floor changed into something equally cold, but definitely nicer in touch. Now she was sliding on something wet, but also, it was much easier and faster. Then the sliding turned into rolling down. She fell on something much more soft and felt a pair of strong arms bringing her up and carrying. Losing her consciousness, she thought how wonderfully warm it was. A voice was there, too. It sounded gentle and concerned. And familiar. But Lucy couldn't hear the words anymore.

"What have you done little queen?"